Tag Archives: IELTS preparation

In order to get the best IELTS score you can, it is important to concentrate on all areas of your English Language learning; Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.

If you look at the IELTS Writing and Speaking Band Descriptors in the links section in the bottom right hand corner, you will see that one of the criteria the Examiner focuses on is grammar.

In the light of this, I’ve decided to dedicate today’s post to an area of grammar that almost all my students (past and present) find troublesome; articles.

I’m going to divide this post into three sections; the indefinite article, the definite article, no article.

The Indefinite Article.

A and An are called the indefinite article.

We use a when the word begins with a consonant sound and an when the word begins with a vowel sound.

e.g. a cat, an elephant

a university (the word begins with the consonant sound /j/.

an hour (the word begins with a vowel sound /aʊ/.

The difficulty with words beginning with ‘h’ is that in British English, the ‘h’ is sometimes pronounced as a consonant sound (/h/) and is sometimes silent so is pronounced as a vowel sound.

The following words are pronounced with a silent ‘h’ in British English; hour, honest, honour

We use a / an when we are talking about something for the first time.

She is wearing a red dress and a black jacket.
They have a dog.

We use a / an to say what kind of person or thing someone or something is (often with an adjective, or to say it belongs to a particular group.

They have an enormous house.

An Aston Martin is a very expensive car.

A shark is a fish, a whale is a mammal.

A bicycle is a vehicle.

We use a / an to talk about someone’s job.

My wife is an actress.
He works as a real estate agent.

The Definite Article.

The is called the definite article.

We use the when we are talking about something that has already been mentioned.

She is wearing a red dress and a black jacket. The dress is very stylish.
They have a dog. The dog is black and white.

We use the when we are talking about a specific person or thing, or if there is only one, or if it is clear which one we are talking about.

He chose a book and started to read. — one of many books
He chose the book that his sister had recommended. — a specific book
He took the newspaper and started to read. — there is only one newspaper.
Can you turn on the computer? — it’s clear we are talking about the computer in this room
She has to see the doctor on Friday. — it’s clear we are talking about her usual doctor
She needs to see a doctor. — not any specific doctor
Icarus flew too close to the sun — there is only one sunThe best city I’ve ever visited is Rome. — there can only be one best city.

With school, university, prison, hospital, church, bed, work and home we use thewhen we are talking about a particular one, and no article when we are talking about the idea of school, university…

The church on our street is very modern. — a particular church
I go to church every Sunday — the idea of church, not a particular building
My husband works at the hospital outside the city centre.
She had to go to hospital.
He hasn’t finished the work I asked him to do yet..
I wasn’t feeling well yesterday so I didn’t go to work.Thehome where I grew up is bigger than the one we live in now..
I had to work late and didn’t get home until 8pm.

We use thewith singular countable nouns to talk about a type of thing.

The crocodile is very dangerous. — this type of animalThe crocodile in the river is very big. — a particular one
She plays the guitar. — not a particular guitar but this type of instrument
She bought the guitar she is playing in Spain. — a particular one

We use the + adjective to talk about a group of people (including nationalities).

I always give money to the poor.The unemployed receive money from the government.The Brazilians play excellent football. .

We use no article with continents, countries, regions, cities, streets, mountains, lakes and parks.

The Wilsons, The Netherlands, The United States, The Virgin Islands, The Alps

We use thewith oceans, seas, rivers and canals.

The Pacific Ocean, The Mediterranean Sea, The Nile, The Suez Canal

We use thewith north, south, east and west to talk about the location of a place within another place, but no article to compare the location of two places.

Sweden is in the north of Europe.
France is north of Spain.
— we use no article with northern, southern, eastern and western:
Greece is in southern Europe

No Article.

We use no article when we are talking about people or things in general.

Avocados are very good for you. — avocados in generalThe avocados growing on the tree in my garden are almost ready to eat. — specific avocados.Italian women are very stylish. – Italian women in generalThe Italian women at the party after the fashion show were very nice. — specific Italian women.

With school, university, prison, hospital, church, bed, work and home we use thewhen we are talking about a particular one, and no article when we are talking about the idea of school, university…

The church on our street is very modern. — a particular church
I go to church every Sunday — the idea of church, not a particular building
My husband works at the hospital outside the city centre.
She had to go to hospital.
He hasn’t finished the work I asked him to do yet..
I wasn’t feeling well yesterday so I didn’t go to work.Thehome where I grew up is bigger than the one we live in now..
I had to work late and didn’t get home until 8pm.

We use no article with continents, countries, regions, cities, streets, mountains, lakes and parks.

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write an essay for a university lecturer on the following topic.

People in all modern societies use drugs, but today’s youth are experimenting with both legal and illegal drugs, and at an increasingly early age. Some sociologists claim that parents and other members of society often set a bad example.

Discuss the causes and some effects of widespread drug-use by young people in modern day society. Make any recommendations your feel are necessary to help fight youth drug abuse.

You are required to support your arguments with relevant information and examples based on your own ideas, knowledge and experience.

Many of my students express their concerns about the IELTS Writing Test and how it is marked so I’d like to dedicate this post to that subject.

The IELTS Writing Test is marked by a certified examiner who has been specially trained to mark this part of the test. In the interests of security, the IELTS Writing assessment criteria are confidential and do not leave the test centre.

Task achievement (IELTS Writing Task 1)

General Training Writing Task 1: You have to write a letter with a clear purpose and it must contain ALL the information specified in the task. The letter might be formal or informal depending on the task set.

Academic Writing Task 1: You have to write a report based on some kind of visual information; it could be a graph, a table or a diagram. It is important to identify and compare the key features and to make sure that you report the data shown accurately.

Task Response (IELTS Writing Task 2)

General Training and Academic Writing Task 2: You are given a prompt, which will either be a question or a statement. You have to give your point of view on a subject, making sure that you support your ideas with relevant examples.

The following criteria are common to both General Training IELTS Writing Task 2 and Academic Writing Task 2.

Vocabulary: You need to have a wide and varied vocabulary and your words need to be used appropriately and spelt correctly.

Grammatical range and accuracy: Obviously, grammatical accuracy is important here and you need to use a variety of simple and complex grammatical structures. How well you punctuate your writing will also be assessed.

Studying these descriptors will help you understand what an examiner is looking for and some of the key differences between a band 5, a band 6 and a band 7.

Formal letters

Please note that in IELTS Writing Task 1, it will not be necessary to write the address and date. The instructions usually say Begin your letter ‘Dear…’

Do not use short forms (We won’t, I’ll etc) in formal letters or essays. Many native English speakers use them in informal letters and this is considered acceptable.

Notice the position of the address, date, greeting and sign-off phrase.

You must include all the points that the question asks you to make.

I always recommend that my students purchase Adams & Austen IELTS books. These books contain so many useful practice exercises and sample questions for IELTS Writing.

Don’t forget that if you buy these books here, I will mark an IELTS Task 1 Writing and an IELTS Task 2 Writing from the book you have purchased.

Although I know that many teachers of English (including myself) teach letter layout, as an examiner I notice that there are many candidates who overlook it in their IELTS test. Keep this example layout and my informalletter layout in mind.